Reply to The education miracle in Finland

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are a couple points that are very important and are being missed here.

1. The teachers are highly trained with masters degrees.  The teaching programs/colleges are tough to get into and have a stringent grading system.  This is because they have to know exactly how to teach courses, such as math, meaning they have to be at least good at the subject.

This is not the case here.  Most courses here deal with classroom management and psychology.  Not saying those are not important, but getting into a teaching degree program is not difficult and teachers don't have to have a deep understanding of math to teach it here.  (Oh the mistakes I've seen, but the teachers don't even catch them)

2. Historically there has been no "gifted" program.  The kids that excel in math stay in the same class as their peers and often end up assisting them.  There are some now, but it's not prevalent.

Imagine telling AAP parents here, that their child doesn't need to be in a special classroom, at a center surrounded by peers of similar ability.  That they can succeed in, gasp, Gen. Ed. classes.   There would likely be county wide protests and petitions.

Here's a short video that provided a decent summary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlYHWpRR4yc

[/quote]

point #1 is dead on.

point #2 has a flawed assumption -- Finland, like most European countries, tracks students (Finland only for our equivalent of high school).  Staying with a peer group headed for college is very different from staying with ALL of your peers.

Finland also provides support for special educational needs from within the same class as other students, as opposed to an SEM-style pullout or separate sections for underperformers.  If we had such support, no separate GT support would be needed, as all students are able to receive differentiation as needed.[/quote]

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